1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an applied USB (Universal Serial Bus) interfacing technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to an adaptor used to process and transmit image data directly from a USB-based digital still camera to a USB-based color printer.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditional serial bus connections like RS-232C have at least three shortcomings: transmission speed is slow, use is complicated, and connection is limited to only a few ports. Ever since the introduction of the Universal Serial Bus (referred to as xe2x80x9cUSBxe2x80x9d hereafter) in 1996, USB has been gladly received as the newly established standard for the next generation serial bus connections with new functionality like Plug-And-Play, 12 Mbits/sec high speed transmission, support of up to 127 peripheral devices, fault-proof connector design, and low cost, etc. At present, there has been a number of computer peripheral devices supporting the USB standard on the market, such as monitors, keyboards, mice, joysticks, scanners, printers, digital cameras, etc.
Conventionally, when a high quality digital image is taken by a digital still camera (referred to as xe2x80x9cDSCxe2x80x9d hereafter), the image data is first processed through a personal computer with an operating system (e.g., Microsoft Windows 98) using USB host software like USB client driver, USB driver (USBD), or a USB host controller driver (HCD), and then sent to a color printer for printing. In other words, the personal computer is a required interfacing adaptor between a DSC and a printer when a DSC needs to print out the pictures it has taken. However, if a person has to travel without taking a computer with him or her, then this person will not be able to get a hard copy of the digital images that have been taken.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for converting image data outputted from a DSC into a usable data format for a color printer or a photo printer. All that is required is that both the DSC and the color printer are USB-based. These digitized images are to be edited in a DSC before sending directly to an available USB color printer for printout.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an adaptor for a USB-DSC to output its image data directly to a USB color printer. All is required is that the color printer is USB-based. The adaptor is capable of accepting and processing the digitized image files saved in the flash memory card of the DSC, and then transmitting them directly to a USB color printer for printouts.
In order to achieve the described objects, the present invention provides an adaptor for connecting between a digital still camera and a printer, comprising a transfer controller, a memory, and a multi-processing micro-controller. The transfer controller is connected to a data bank. The transfer controller receives and stores image data from the digital still camera into the data bank, then transfers the image data to the printer. The memory has a system program stored therein. The multi-processing micro-controller is connected to the transfer controller and the memory through a data bus and a control bus. The multi-processing micro-controller controls the transfer controller in receiving and transferring the image data concurrently in response to the system program.
Since the interfacing adaptor of the present invention is capable of being a data-converting interface between two USB peripherals, it is only required that the DSC and printer are both USB-based to have a direct data transmission from a DSC to a printer after image data are edited and selected in the DSC.
Furthermore, the present invention can provide a slot for removable memory cards. Therefore, other image data stored in the memory card can be transferred to the data bank and then processed by the transfer controller to the printer for printout. Thus, it is only required that the printer be USB-based to have the printer print out directly what is stored in the DSC memory card.